The Beautiful Madness of Martin Bonham: A Tale About Loving God

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The Beautiful Madness of Martin Bonham: A Tale About Loving God
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The Beautiful Madness of Martin Bonham: A Tale About Loving God

By Robert Hudson

“I don’t love God.” Little did Gen-Z seminarian Katie Westcott know that when she made that confession to English professor Martin Bonham one fine summer day it would throw the quiet campus of Cupperton University into an uproar. Nothing would be the same again.

Together, this unlikely pair of oddballs poses this question: What if students could major in “loving God”—not religion or theology, but in the daily challenge of loving the Creator with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? Well, now they can … in the new and innovative Department of Theophily—the department of loving God.

Yet, strangely enough, not everyone is happy about the new department, and they will stop at nothing to see it shut down. …

Part sitcom, part inspiration, this thoughtful theological comedy is like a Venn diagram in which C. S. Lewis and P. G. Wodehouse intersect.

Description

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Hilarious, Heart-Warming, Faith-Enlarging …

“I don’t love God.” Little did Gen-Z seminarian Katie Westcott know that when she made that confession to English professor Martin Bonham one fine summer day it would throw the quiet campus of Cupperton University into an uproar. Nothing would be the same again.

Together, this unlikely pair of oddballs poses this question: What if students could major in “loving God”—not religion or theology, but in the daily challenge of loving the Creator with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? Well, now they can … in the new and innovative Department of Theophily—the department of loving God.

Yet, strangely enough, not everyone is happy about the new department, and they will stop at nothing to see it shut down. …

Part sitcom, part inspiration, this thoughtful theological comedy is like a Venn diagram in which C. S. Lewis and P. G. Wodehouse intersect.

Reviews

Only rarely does a novelist appear like Robert Hudson with a voice that is singularly distinctive in style and ravishingly absorbing in subject matter—in this case the difference between knowing God and knowing about God. The Beautiful Madness of Martin Bonham is an accomplished and seductive book you will never forget. —Leonard Sweet, best-selling author, professor, publisher, and founder of SpiritVenture Ministries

Whether it’s nonfiction, poetry, technical writing, adaptations of Renaissance texts, or (now, wonderfully) fiction, Bob Hudson can take the obscure and somehow turn it into a universal parable of the good, true, and beautiful. In this instance, a small religious college becomes the backdrop for exploring whether or not you can truly love God with all your mind if you fail to love your neighbor as yourself. Hilarious, thoughtful, and thought-provoking: a true delight! —Sarah Arthur, A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L’Engle

Hollywood has mastered the art of dramatizing the tropes that play on repeat in our mundane, modern lives. But what might it look like to live today the drama that has captivated the attention of the spiritual masters of the Christian tradition? The Beautiful Madness of Martin Bonham answers that question in a way that’s both invigorating and refreshingly down to earth—a theophany that you can imagine happening in your own town, with the people who populate your everyday life. —Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, spiritual writer, preacher, and community cultivator. He serves as Assistant Director for Partnerships and Fellowships at Yale University’s Center for Public Theology and Public Policy

Hudson tackles a religious topic as relevant in our world today as any other, orthodoxy (beliefs) versus orthopraxy (practice). Or in this case, theology (the study of God) versus theophily (loving God). Hudson’s approach is thoughtful and full of its share of shenanigans. A good reminder for all of us, don’t take yourself too seriously, but humbly seek to get things right. —Traci Rhoades, Bible teacher and author of Not All Who Wander (Spiritually) Are Lost and Shaky Ground: What to Do After the Bottom Drops Out

Finding a book that does everything this novel does is like finding a unicorn. It is genuinely funny, scores many good-natured jabs at sacred bovine, and—rarest of all—has an earnest search for an honest and meaningful faith at its tender heart. Bob Hudson has written a novel I wish I had written—and yet this is better, because I get to enjoy it.  —John R. Mabry is a United Church of Christ pastor and the director of the interfaith spiritual direction certificate program at the Chaplaincy Institute. He is the author of Ash Wednesday and Growing into God: A Beginner’s Guide to Christian Mysticism

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Robert Hudson

Robert Hudson

In third grade Bob knew that books would be his life—reading them, writing them, and making them. He studied literature and languages, eventually earning a master’s degree in comparative literature. He has been a teacher, a book-store clerk, a journal editor, a translator, a book designer, a proofreader, a small-press publisher, a writer, and he has certificates in bookbinding and hand printing. For thirty-four years, he worked as an editor for Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins. He is a member of the West Michigan Thomas Merton Society, the International Dante Society, and the Traherne Association, and he serves on the board of the Calvin College Center for Faith and Writing.

He is the author of The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style: 4th Edition—a volume that has become a standard reference in Christian publishing. His first volume of poetry, Kiss the Earth When You Pray, was published in 2016. His articles and poetry have appeared in Christianity Today, The Other Side, The Mennonite, The Seneca Review, Mars Hill Review, and other magazines and journals. For four years he blogged for WorkingPOET.com and edited their online newsletter.

Bob and his wife, Shelley, play fiddle and banjo, respectively, in an old-time Southern string band called Gooder’n Grits. They play for barn dances and festivals throughout West Michigan. They also operate the Perkipery Press, a small chapbook publisher. They have three daughters: Abbie, Molly, and Lili.

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